[Jedi Quest] - 10(16)

He needn’t have worried. Whoever the Sith was, he knew exactly where Anakin was, for, to Obi-Wan’s horror, his apprentice was suddenly lifted like a doll and flung into the air. Anakin’s body slammed into the wreck of a cruiser. He fell to the ground.

Obi-Wan raced forward, his lightsaber activated and ready for battle. He kept his focus wide, just as he had taught Anakin. He knew the Sith was aware that he was there, and no doubt was aware that he would rush to help his apprentice.

No attack came. Anakin was already recovering as Obi-Wan bent over him, quickly checking for breaks or contusions.

“I’m all right.” Anakin grunted. “Just… embarrassed. I’ve never felt anything like that.”

“Did you see him?”

“Only from behind. Tall. Dressed in a black-hooded cape that trailed all the way to the ground. I didn’t see his face. He didn’t even turn. I felt the Force come at me like an autoblaster cannon….” Anakin struggled to his feet. “It could be a Sith.”

“I know.”

Anakin started forward.

“Where are you going?” Obi-Wan asked.

When he turned, Obi-Wan could see Anakin’s face undergo a change. Every muscle tightened, and his eyes turned flinty.

“We have a chance to make a stand,” Anakin said.

“We need the others.”

“It will be too late.”

Obi-Wan hesitated only a fraction. Anakin was right. They had to try. He started forward, and together they moved farther into the darkness.

“Keep your focus loose,” Obi-Wan warned him in a low tone. “He will come from anywhere when he comes.”

“This time I’ll be prepared.”

“Don’t be so confident,” Obi-Wan answered. “You probably won’t be.”

They were nearing the end of the hangar. He sensed it rather than saw it. The corroded vehicles were more numerous now, lined up like dark, giant phantoms.

Like phantoms..

Phantoms that move…

Obi-Wan wrenched his gaze away. He could have sworn the ancient ships were moving.

Then he knew.

“This way!” he yelled, as the first vehicle suddenly flipped over. It would have crushed them if Obi-Wan hadn’t dashed to the side with Anakin on his heels. He flattened himself against the wall as another vehicle moved, its jagged wing a lethal weapon, capable of slicing them to ribbons. A cruiser suddenly zoomed toward the wall, straight at them.

“Drop!” Anakin and Obi-Wan hit the floor, hugging the stones as the cruiser passed over them and smashed into the wall.

Vehicle parts began to fall like rain. The crashes were deafening. They leaped, twisted, and dived to avoid them, using the Force to deflect them when they could. Finally they came to rest in the shadow of one of the giant statues. Obi-Wan leaned against a clawed foot and squinted into the darkness.

He could not see the Sith, but he felt the Sith’s amusement, his triumph.

The vehicles now smashed into one another, creating a solid mass of screaming metal, effectively blocking them from the front of the hangar.

Anakin ran to the mountain of metal and tried to climb over it. Obi-Wan felt the dark side rise in a crest and then fall, leaving a vacuum behind.

“It’s no use,” he told Anakin. “The Sith is gone.” “Gone.” Anakin repeated the word dully.

“Don’t worry.” Obi-Wan sheathed his lightsaber. “I have no doubt that we’ll meet him again.”





CHAPTER FOURTEEN


Anakin immediately hurried to Tru’s side while Obi-Wan went to confer with the Masters.

“You all right?”

Tru smiled wanly, but didn’t look up. “Just a few bruises. Ferus fixed me up.”

Ferus tucked the med kit back into his utility pouch. He didn’t look at Anakin, either. Darra studied the hilt of her lightsaber.

“I saw someone trying to escape, so I had to go after him,” Anakin said. “It turned out to be a Sith. Obi-Wan is sure of it.”

“Well, that’s not surprising,” Darra said. “We’re on Korriban, after all.”

There was an unfamiliar hard note in Darra’s voice, as if she resented Anakin.

“Our mission is to find Granta Omega,” Anakin said. “You had things under control, so I went after him - or, who I thought was him.”

“So you were sure we had everything under control?” Ferus straightened, wiping his hands on his tunic. “That’s what I said.”

“Tru was wounded, I was helping him, and Darra had to face off against a dozen droids, but everything was under control?”

“Obviously I made the right call,” Anakin said, gesturing at the fallen droids.

“And you were only thinking of the mission, of course,” Ferus said.